Moment of Discovery
Dan Riehl learns something interesting about the wire services, not to mention a lot of newspapers. They agree to call men women as long as that is what they say they are. I haven’t seen any good polling on how actual, biological women feel about sharing their gender with people who have male sex organs. My own newspaper’s policy considers men to be men who have not yet undergone surgery to alter their status. X and Y chromosomes don’t enter the debate, nor the consideration that being a woman may involve more than the absence of male gear.
New York is codifying this, to allow men to be legally recognized as women, in cases where they may not be recognizable as women. The New York transit system has also agreed to allow men who consider themselves to be women to use the restroom of their choice. The settlement involved a person who reportedly “has been in transition from male to female for 10 years.” The AP story in question goes with “she.” Unclear what stage of transition had been achieved at press time. Also unclear from the reporting whether men who consider themselves to be men have the same freedom of choice in which restroom to use.
(Footnote: wire services have a long history of calling people things they arguably are not. For example, people who purposefully kill innocent civilians for political reasons are often called “militants” instead of “terrorists.” Saddam Hussein is routinely refered to as “former president” rather than “ousted dictator.” Unclear whether a wire reporter, on encountering a person who believes himself to be Napoleon, for example, would be required to use “His late Imperial Majesty” on second reference.)
Should people be allowed to consider themselves whatever they want to be? Sure, why not. Free country. Should society and news organizations observe that, in defiance of physical evidence? Big question, currently being answered in haphazard fashion by news executives, courts and executive branch policies. Absent sex-change surgery, who decides for what purpose someone has decided to present himself as a woman, what the level of commitment to this status is, and whether it should be honored?
Topics: Uncategorized
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:14 pm on Sunday, November 26, 2006
2 Responses to “Moment of Discovery”
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November 26th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Does this mean I am now free to consider myself thirty years younger, three inches taller, and too beautiful for magazine ads? Well, all right! I’m liking this brave new world!
November 26th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
I LOVE the way you think, RebeccaH!!!
Seems to me that absent sex-change surgery, it’s just crossdressing, isn’t it?
Does my wearing men’s workboots make me a man?
As a woman, I would really prefer to not share locker rooms and dressing rooms and restrooms with persons who possess male sex organs. Especially the ones who can’t raise the seat before using the toilets. But that’s just me…
[/me gets ready for the nasty emails]